Flashback: Gorilla rescues 3-year-old who fell into ape pit
Incident from 1996 at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois shows protective primate save little boy who fell into exhibit
The recent incident at the Cincinnati Zoo is a reminder of another one in 1996 in Illinois, involving a gorilla named Binti-Jua.
The close call between a 3-year-old boy and a male gorilla in Cincinnati on Saturday ended in tragedy for the gorilla, after the zoo was forced to take lethal action and put the gorilla down.
But the event serves as a reminder of a happier one that occurred at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois about 20 years ago, when another boy— also 3-years-old— fell into a gorilla enclosure. And that time, the gorilla, a female named Binti-Jua, cradled the unconscious boy and then took him to zookeepers.
Related: Controversy continues after zoo shoots gorilla to save boy
“I think it’s pretty cool that the kid got saved and that the gorilla brought him back to the door,” one boy said during an interview about the incident. Fans later lined up to see the gentle Binti-Jua.
In this most recent incident, the boy suffered scrapes after being violently dragged around by the gorilla, known as Harambe.
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